Welcome to
Jozwiak Lab
The laboratory's primary focus revolves around comprehending the intricate metabolic pathways and mechanisms occurring within plants, thereby contributing to their overall growth and functioning. The objective is to decipher the plant metabolomics and natural products, unraveling their significance in improving plant growth, productivity, and the development of novel plant-derived products and valuable metabolites utilized in therapies. To delve into these processes, the laboratory employs an array of tools and techniques such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, alongside molecular biology and biochemistry. This comprehensive approach allows for the exploration of genes, enzymes, and metabolites involved in plant metabolism, as well as the regulatory mechanisms governing these intricate processes. Furthermore, the laboratory explores the effects of diverse environmental conditions on the evolution of biosynthetic pathways within plants. Read more here.
News & Events
October 2025
Lab was recently awarded a Hellman Fellowship, supporting early-career faculty pursuing bold research directions. This fellowship will help accelerate our work on plant specialized metabolism and expand our efforts in metabolomics- and genomics-driven pathway discovery. We are grateful for this support and excited for what it enables next.
July 2025
Our lab is growing! We now have a great team of four graduate students, three undergraduates, and one associate specialist working together on a wide range of projects. It’s an energetic, collaborative group, and the lab is buzzing with new ideas and experiments every day. Exciting times ahead!
June 2025
Our lab recently published a paper in Nature Communications reporting the discovery and functional characterization of GAME8, a key enzyme controlling a branch point in the biosynthesis of steroidal glycoalkaloids in tomato. This study revealed how GAME8 is leading to stereochemical diversification of these defense compounds, helping explain natural variation across Solanum species. The work combines biochemistry, metabolomics, and comparative genetics to uncover how pathway structure contributes to chemical diversity and plant-environment interactions. Read the story here.
January 2025
Recently lab was selected for the SoCal OASIS Funding Award, which supports innovative research with regional impact in science and technology. This award will advance our work on metabolomics and the functional characterization of plant defense pathways, helping drive new discoveries and applications in sustainable agriculture.
December 2024
Our lab recently published a research article in Science titled “A Cellulose Synthase-like Protein Governs the Biosynthesis of Solanum Alkaloids”. This work reveals that a specialized CslM enzyme closes the gap in the biosynthesis of steroidal glycoalkaloids, important defense metabolites in tomato and related species. The discovery reshapes our understanding of cellulose synthase-like protein evolution and opens new opportunities for engineering plant natural products for agriculture and medicine. Read it here.